Why I’m running

My candidacy is based upon my strong belief that the work of our Chief Elections Officer is too important to be left to the politicians.

I’m running for Secretary of State because the office that runs our elections should be non-partisan and independent of any political party, in order to fight for tough new anti-corruption laws for politicians, special interests, and lobbyists.

Specifically, as Secretary of State, I will work to ban political fundraising while the legislature is in session, I’ll support tougher campaign disclosure laws to make sure every political contribution is public within 24 hours. I will help economic recovery and job creation by simplifying and streamlining business licensing operations. And I’ll work every day to make sure to fix a broken system of politics for the people of California.

Political Reformer

As Chairman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, I worked to enforce state election laws and punish politicians and lobbyists who violated the law.

As the founder of an organization dedicated to campaign finance and political reform, I led the fight to take responsibility for drawing boundaries for legislative districts away from the politicians and gave it to an Independent Citizens Commission instead.

As an educator, I have worked with young people of both major parties and all ideologies for almost 20 years to get them more involved in politics, government and public service.

I am running for Secretary of State because politics is too important to be left to the politicians. Join me: together we can fix California.